A BUSY NIGHT FOR MERYL
Thank you all for doing fine duty on this tricky word. As ever you rose to the challenge with dash and cleverness. The numbers are:
Setters - 15
Clues - 30
Which is more or less par for the course I think.
My thoughts here – for what they are worth - setter by setter, clue by clue:
Buddy got the ball rolling – I had no problem with this holy woman, although perusing Chambers I note that it is given solely as a French usage, so I wonder if this should have been signalled in the clue – not saying, just musing – other dictionaries are available. Buddy returned at 19 with a David Cronenbergian intermingling of actresses, tremendously clever, and perhaps even an overabundance of riches given the double definition element alongside/amongst wordplay.
On Buddy’s 23 I’m racking my brains whether I’ve seen this kind of construction before – is it a thing? Some sort of ghost charade + reverse anagram..? It fair boggled my bear-like brain!
Then we had dunkin’
Dorrien’s double definition at 3 – I had to squint at it for a mo even knowing the solution… without a trad wordplay I found this clue quite oracular in nature. I warmed rather more to his 8 where ‘driver’s prop’ was a cute piece of misdirection. Later 34 – another double def which I think the Australian, say, solver might find perplexing!
A brace from
Mattrom next, 4 characteristically suave with superb surface: the same may be said for 5, maybe even smoother – (also raised a smile thinking about my Aussie gambling loving friends!) I fell for 28 a little less, feeling that by Mattrom’s high standards the construction seemed a little unbreezy.
Aristo offered up 6, pithy and effective
comme d’habitude, also smooth: I like.
MPRS’ 7 raised a Pythonesque tableau in my mind – surface-wise it made me wonder how much time ‘in ooze’ would be just right! In 33 Pete arrived back from Faiton’s place, now paying the price for his tumescence. Neat, pithy clue – although I suspect some of the brainiacs of this parish might find it Saturnian. I needed guidance on 36, a good pithy clue but the risk run in using brand names is clear from my ignorance, other nations than the USA may be equally unfamiliar.
Paul’s 9 will trigger an EGM of the Pedants’ Society with
that apostrophe…I enjoyed his train of thought in 10 although I wonder if ‘on’ really works in the wordplay, it’s an ‘around’ isn’t it? His 11 pleased me more, I wasn’t troubled by ‘pole’ as P rather than N or S, that strikes me as fair misdirection. But I wonder whether ‘then’ worked well connecting wordplay to definition.
ChrisE had me consulting my atlas on 12 – I wasn’t aware of this place (despite living only an hour away from it) – so every day is a school day. From a solver’s point of view it presents as a treasure hunt – Wikipedia gives 584 Hampshire villages which gives one 10 minutes of grunt work followed by brief, mild euphoria, but that’s all right, that’s in the game.
Faiton @13 - well, I doubt we’re that easily shocked; I was a bit perplexed at the use of ‘unlikely’ as the anagrind when ‘aroused’ might have better fitted the Cyclops-esque con. But raised a welcome smile (if ‘raised’ is an appropriate word, given the clue.)
Being a sucker for a pithy clue I warmed immediately to
PaulH’s 14 but on checking Chambers couldn’t find ‘heavy’ given under either entry, nor in their Crossword Dictionary. But like I said earlier, other dictionaries are available. For his 41 I applaud the inventiveness, but - maybe it’s personal to me – but I get antsy when I see ‘almost’ as an indicator.
Jono’s 15 took a wee bit of pencil chewing – stupidly I was thinking of opponents as N & S (or E & W) but of course they are not. PET was a usage I had to double check on, overall a good chewy clue though the construction was perhaps less supersmooth than others here. His 17 was, while simpler, more assured, I felt – and great fun.
PeterM’s 16 give a debut to Meryl Streep, I needed some help with the definition – his fiendish misdirection fooled me and very cleverly done, a fine clue and he a better man than I.
FieryJack @22 provided us with a cleverly constructed subtractive anagram – good surface too. On 26 he read my mind and in 27 made that correction – I think having made it the comma could have gone for additional streamlining – nice clue though. 31 was well concealed but the surface was very slightly gauche to my eyes.
Meryl Streep put in another shift for
Tyke in 25, albeit obliquely. Would I have made the jump from ‘actress’ to Streep – I’m not sure but the clue read very nicely.
A welcome 32 from
Penda – I wondered if she had been taking tiffin with Dorrien?! It was a glorious, rambunctious piece of clueing – won’t win the concours d’elegance but put a cheery smile on my face. 48 I was just as exuberant though a different definition might have fitted the clue more appropriately.
40 was a learned piece of cluing from
Jimmygtal – misdirection by overload but Ximenean all the same to my eye, rather elegant in its own way.
The following are highly commended:
Aristo @6
Buddy @19
Fiery @22
Jimmygtal @40
Jono @17
Mattrom @4
PeterM @16
And the winner is
Mattrom with @5
Odds of bookies taking one's shirt are very high (5)
A superslick clue and yet another trophy for Mattrom’s already groaning trophy cabinet, and more work for her next week.
Congratulations Mattrom and I hope you enjoy this prize – if you suffer from vertigo you might not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9TMn1FJzc
Thanks all again and see you soon I hope,
Matthew